Content Management

Get the Most out of Your CMS

Every site we build provides our customer with the ability to edit their own pages easily using content management systems (CMSes). Our primary focus is on Drupal but we also work with WordPress quite regularly, including migrating from WordPress to Drupal and vice versa. We also build sites using the Orchard CMS, which runs on .Net MVC framework.

Of course, sometimes converting a site to another CMS makes less financial sense than making improvements to the existing system. It is also a matter of picking the right tool for the job.

Drupal

Allows for maximum flexibility and granular control. It is a framework, more than just a CMS. It can be used for much more than just maintaining content. All Drupal modules are free and open-source, and the Drupal community puts a great emphasis on not duplicating functionality. This fosters quality, well-tested code; code is tested both by automated tests and by members of the Drupal community.

WordPress

A great blogging platform that can also handle many CMS functions, although not with the level of robustness or granularity offered by Drupal in terms of fields, views, and interconnectedness/reusability of page data — at least not with WordPress's core code. WordPress plugins are usually "freemium", and most decent WordPress sites will need to purchase at least a couple commercial plugins. WordPress plugins aren't subjected to quite the level of scrutiny that Drupal code is, but there are some really fantastic plugins out there.

You Manage the Content — We'll Manage the Code

We specialize in building sites so that you can maintain your pages yourself, and train you until you are comfortable using the CMS. Our CMS sites are built with open source software that can be extended to include almost any functionality you can dream up. A well-planned open-source CMS allows your site to grow with your needs, without getting locked into expensive licensing arrangements. Depending on the particular requirements of a project, that may mean going with Drupal, WordPress or other systems. We are CMS agnostic: we use what works best for each situation.

The whole point of a CMS is to manage content without needing to know PHP, HTML, CSS, or any coding at all. Your IT budget is best spent on actual IT work, not on paying a developer to make content changes. Every CMS still requires occasional security updates, though. Your web server also needs to be looked after to keep hackers and spammers out. After we build your new site or redesign/adjust your existing one, we'll stick around to keep your site humming long into the future.

Every site we manage has a private Help page where we continuously add custom-recorded screencasts. These "how to" videos help our customers manage their sites independently, even when there is staff turnover. These help videos alleviate knowledge transfer issues when client staff changes, and save our customers valuable time and money.